June 2016

Matts Gallery Has Successfully Moved

Matt’s Gallery is pleased to announce our relocation to Decima Street, Bermondsey in South London, due to open in Autumn 2016.

In the meantime, the new space will be undergoing major construction and redevelopment works while the staff of Matt’s Gallery will work from an office nearby. The new gallery in Bermondsey will occupy a central ground-floor space housed alongside an independent architectural practice and artist’s studio space, reminiscent of the first Matt’s Gallery in Martello Street. The relocation will mark a key milestone in the gallery’s history. After 23 successful years at Copperfield Road, the new gallery space will enable us to continue commissioning exceptional works of contemporary art, and also, crucially, welcome both new and existing visitors to South London. Bermondsey will be a temporary home to Matt’s Gallery until 2019/20 when it is anticipated the Gallery will move to a permanent 9,000 sq. ft, double-height gallery space in Nine Elms on the South Bank, marking the next phase and an exciting future of Matt’s Gallery.

Matt’s Gallery office address: Studio 117, 90 Haymerle Road, London, SE15 6SB
Matt’s Gallery new phone number: 020 7635 2823

Forthcoming Exhibitions & Events

Richard Grayson, Possessions_inc. 1 July 2016, episodes 1 & 2

Possessions_inc is a new video and web project by Matt’s Gallery and Richard Grayson. Episodes 1 & 2 will be launched on 1st July 2016.

Over 2016 and 2017 Matt’s Gallery will be posting monthly instalments of the video project Possessions_inc. Part series, part blog, part essay, part talking head, Possessions_inc. is an expanding exploration of: ideas of value, ways we invest in objects, the Bilderberg owl, animatronics, the mystery of Rennes Le Chateau, codes, fakes, oligarchs, the missing head of Philip K Dick, treasure hunting, M.R. James, the V.I.P. Lounge, drug smuggling, computer animation, animism, Pygmalion and the insurance industry.

To subscribe please go to the Matt’s Gallery mailing list

Current

Blackrock Residency Programme, Sally O’ Reilly, Patrick Goddard and Alison Turnbull, Lydney Park Estate, May – July 2016

The Blackrock Artist Residency Programme is a partnership between Matt’s Gallery, London and Lydney Park Estate on the edge of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Artists Sally O’Reilly, Patrick Goddard and Alison Turnbull are currently in residence. Having started their residency at the end of May, the artists will stay on and around the estate until July, sharing in a community of interaction, conceptual development and the production of new work. The Blackrock Artist Residency is supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Arts Council, England. There will be a publication and exhibition in September 2016.

 

Graham Fagen, The Mighty Scheme, Matt’s Gallery & CGP London, 5 May – 26 June 2016

For the third in a series of collaborations, Matt’s Gallery & CGP London present The Mighty Scheme, a major solo exhibition by Graham Fagen. The Mighty Scheme will span both CGP London galleries in the heart of Southwark Park, presenting an ambitious survey exhibition that will, for the first time, show a selection of Fagen’s most recent work within a formal gallery setting, contrasting the palatial settings in which some of the work has been previously exhibited.

On Sunday 12th June from 18:00 to 20:00, CGP will host a live set by dub legend Ghetto Priest and Adrian Sherwood. This special 90 minute set will include a live performance of The Slaves Lament, featured in the exhibition at CGP. The Slaves Lament is a composition developed by artist Graham Fagen, Ghetto Priest, Adrian Sherwood and the Scottish Ensemble commissioned for Scotland + Venice 2015.

For booking information and tickets, please click here

Artists’ News

Benedict Drew and Imogen Stidworthy, British Art Show 8, Norwich University of the Arts, 24 June – 4 September 2016

Benedict Drew and Imogen Stidworthy have been selected for the British Art Show 8, widely recognised as the most ambitious and influential exhibition of contemporary British art, with artists chosen for their significant contribution over the past five years. Imogen presents the installation A Crack in the Light, 2013, which was first shown as part of the Bergen Triennale 2013, while Benedict has created new work Sequencer, 2015 specifically for the exhibition. The work will now tour to Norwich, opening on 24th June 2016.

Alison Turnbull and Lindsay Seers, Seeing Round Corners, Turner Contemporary, Margate, 21 May – 25 September 2016

Alison Turnbull and Lindsay Seers are both exhibiting works in Seeing Round Corners at Turner Contemporary in Margate. The exhibition explores how artists have responded to the phenomenon of the circle, the disc or the sphere. Seeing Round Corners showcases more than 50 works, presenting a variety of processes and media including painting, sculpture, film and photography, alongside design objects and historical artefacts.

 

Jordan Baseman, Dark Ocean, MONA, Tasmania, 10 – 21 June 2016

Jordan Basemans’ film The Black Sea (2013) will be screened as part of Dark Ocean at MONA in Tasmania. In Dark Ocean, Art meets science, as data collected during raging storms, video, sculpture, and performances, light up the windows of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies building at MONA.

 

Jordan Baseman, Edge of Frame Programme One, DIY space for London, Thursday 30 June, 8pm

Jordan Baseman will show a selection of work followed by a Q&A. Preceding this will be a programme of films curated by Edge of Frame, connecting to the ideas of experimental documentary, moving image portraiture and abstraction which run through Jordan’s work, featuring films by Jesse McLean, Aaron Zeghers and more. Edge of Frame seeks to provide a space for artists working at the intersection of experimental animation, artists’ moving image and experimental film.

Micheal Curran, Greenhouse Effect, Chelsea Fringe at Nine Elms on the South Bank, Beconsfield Gallery, 26 May – 12 June 2016

Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall celebrates previous residencies with artists Michael Curran and Joseph Walsh in collaboration with artist Dawn Gaietto and Shanks Pony Gardener. For Greenhouse Effect, Michael Curran orchestrates a Liquid Gang Happening on the 27^th of May 7.00 – 8.30 pm, where you are invited to join the Gang in a mass Herb Tasting involving Herb Study, Botanical Colouring and Drawing. The Liquid Gang was formed in 2015. The name originates from a song by Marc Bolan from his 1974 album Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow, and as the title suggests their activities explore group interaction and fluid states via workshops and performance actions – including observational drawing, herb tasting, and physical movement. The exercises take place in public and domestic spaces, challenging an over privileging of thought and language, and questioning levels of engagement with the sensory world. The gang use the model of the Encounter group – the Cult and the Pop Group combining comedic effect with serious intent. Their playful aim is to expand an understanding of the senses and to reveal our underlying psychic porosity. You are also invited to join the Gang in the Upper Space – which will remain open until the 5th of June.

 

Mike Nelson, Cloak, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco offsite project, 2 Avenue de Grande-Bretagne, Monaco, 4 July – 15 September 2016

The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco presents an offsite project by Mike Nelson – Cloak – a site-specific intervention in the UBS building located on avenue de Grande-Bretagne in Monaco. Mike Nelson is known for his immersive installations, which often play on socio-political preconceptions and subvert the viewer’s sense of place. Informed by fiction, his practice develops parallel realities where various determinants of life and everyday existence conflate to create new understandings and question existing perspectives. For NNMN’s project at the UBS Monaco building, which is currently closed for renovation, the artist has proposed to render all that is visible within the abandoned bank ultramarine blue. This project is curated by Suad Garayeva-Maleki and Cristiano Raimondi.

 

Mike Nelson, Imperfect geometry for a concrete quarry, Kalkbrottet, Limhamn, Malmo, Sweden

In autumn 2012, Mike Nelson exhibited his installation 408 tons of imperfect geometry at Malmö Konsthall. The work consisted of cast concrete blocks placed on the floor in a geometric pattern. The blocks’ weight was calculated so that it – plus the visitors – could only just be supported by the exhibition hall’s floor. These same concrete blocks have been used to create a new work for Kalkbrottet (Limhamn limestone quarry, now a municipal nature reserve within the City of Malmö, Sweden).

Imperfect geometry for a concrete quarry consists of approximately 3,500 concrete blocks laid out in their strict repetitive geometric pattern. Here, Nelson allows the suggestive and enigmatic patterns of Oriental art to encounter and tie in with Western art’s rational minimalism. The work’s placement in Kalkbrottet adds yet another dimension through its location being the very source of one of the main constituents of concrete, that of limestone. The physical nature of the work seems strangely fitting to the site, reinforcing a sense of servitude that one might feel about its very making – something echoed in the site returning to nature after its creation through man’s industry.

Imogen Stidworthy, Barrabackslarrabang, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 16 June – 17 July 2016

Imogen Stidworthy’s Barrabackslarrabang will be displayed at The Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House as part of an exhibition organised by Curating Masters students. The exhibition is entitled ‘Confusion of Tongues: Art and the Limits of Language’, and it forms part of Somerset House’s ‘Utopia 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility’ festival. Taking utopia and the story of the Tower of Babel as a point of departure, the exhibition explores the way in which artists use language and communication in art to simultaneously withhold meaning and inspire new interpretations for the viewer. Barrabackslarrabang is a central part of the exhibition’s proposal and message.

Imogen Stidworthy, THIS IS A VOICE, Wellcome Collection, 13 April – 31 July 2016

Imogen Stidworthy exhibits her new film Castrati (2016) in THIS IS A VOICE, a show which explores how the unique grain of our voice locates us socially, geographically and psychologically and how the voice is utterly flexible and can be altered with treatment and training. THIS IS A VOICE looks inside vocal tracts, restless minds and speech devices to capture the elusive nature of the human voice. Designed as an acoustic journey, the spotlight is cast on the meaning and emotions conveyed through the patterns of rhythm, stress and intonation. Non-verbal forms of communication are emphasised, revealing the power of the voice before and beyond words. Conceived as an acoustic journey, THIS IS A VOICE presents works by artists and vocalists, punctuated by paintings, manuscripts, medical illustrations and ethnographic objects.

 

Imogen Stidworthy, An Introduction to Bliss for Two Voices with Chorus (2014-2016), commissioned by Concreta magazine for their 6th online platform

An Introduction to Bliss for Two Voices with Chorus (2014 – 2016) is a binaural sound piece by Imogen Stidworthy, commissioned by Concreta magazine for their 6th edition online platform. The work can be found here: http://www.editorialconcreta.org/bliss/index-en.html

 

 

Benedict Drew, Into boundless space I leap, Kettles Yard, Cambridge, 9 April – 2 July 2016

Benedict Drew exhibits work as part of Into boundless space I leap, a special exhibition and series of events celebrating the opening of the Maxwell Centre. The exhibition presents work by fourteen contemporary artists of international standing, including sculpture, video, installation and painting. The art works, which include new commissions, have been selected or created in response to the new Centre’s ethos of scientific discovery and collaboration. The exhibition reflects the physical sciences space as one of experiment, interaction, and ideas – creating the future. James Clerk Maxwell used art and poetry as an expression of his scientific research, and the title of the exhibition is taken from one of his poems. Visitors can explore the artworks installed throughout the new building.

Benedict Drew, Jordan Baseman and Lindsay Seers, Stories in the Dark, The Beaney, Canterbury, 19 March – 19 June 2016

Curated by artist Ben Judd, Stories in the Dark will feature the work of artists Benedict Drew, Jordan Baseman, Lindsay Seers, Adam Chodzko, Louisa Fairclough, Dryden Goodwin, Haroon Mirza and Guy Sherwin, who will use magic lanterns and items from the Beaney’s unique collections as starting points for new works. Invented in the 17th century, the magic lantern brought projected moving images to audiences for the very first time, creating breath-taking shows which captured the imagination. This unique and contemporary exhibition, co-commissioned by Whitstable Biennale, using film, projection and sound is on in the Beaney’s Special Exhibitions Room between Saturday 19 March and Sunday 19 June.

 

Lindsay Seers, Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2 April – 19 June

 

Lindsay Seers’ golf hole (originally conceived of for the Venice Biennale 2015) features a figurehead upside down and pregnant being attacked by two enormous snakes. The figure is Princess Salme (b.1844), daughter of a Circassian concubine in the Sultan of Zanzibar’s harem. Circassian women were considered, at this time, to be the most beautiful women in the world, hence they were highly prized as wives. The beauty and character of her mother gave Princess Salme a strong position in the family of the sultan of Zanzibar and Oman (Sayyid Said bin Sultan Al-Busaid) and levels of freedom, which she expresses clearly in her autobiography. The golf ball’s journey up a steep ramp, over a painting of an anamorphic British naval captain, winds its way through the snake’s entangled bodies. When the red ball is finally spat out, it bounces off a rock painted with an image of a ‘Circassian Beauty’ (from PT Barnum’s freak show).

On the 1st July, Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf will open at the Quad Gallery in Derby.

 

Graham Fagen, The Scottish Endarkment: Art and Unreason 1945 to the Present, Dovecot Studios, 13 May – 29 August 2016

This thematic exhibition, curated by Bill Hare and Andrew Patrizio of The University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with Dovecot, provides a radically new and fascinating presentation of the shared concerns which have obsessed many of the most important Scottish artists since the end of World War Two. The Scottish Endarkenment explores a wide range of disturbing and provocative topics, from ever-escalating international conflict, social inequality and unrest, gender identity and sexual prejudice – all fired by the dialectical struggles within the Scottish psyche between good and evil, Self and the Other. All these subjects are imaginatively treated within a variety of different interpretations and mediums – from the out-and-out horrific to the darkly satirical. Included amongst the forty or so exhibits are works by major Scottish artists including David Shrigley, Joyce Cairns and Steven Campbell.

Jo Bruton, The Marmite Prize for Painting V, Block 336, 4 June – 1 July 2016

Jo Bruton has been shortlisted for the 2016 Marmite Prize for Painting. From 1246 entries, 39 paintings are chosen and shown in a group exhibition. Submissions came in from painters at all stages of their careers in the UK, Ireland and further afield. The prize has been running for ten years,and there have been five editions of the prize, including this one, that have toured to twelve venues in England, Scotland and Ireland.

Fiona Crisp, Negative Capability, North East Contemporary Arts Network and This Is Tomorrow, online commission

Fiona Crisp discusses her work in Negative Capability, a video commissioned by North East Contemporary Visual Arts Network and launched by This Is Tomorrow. Fiona Crisp’s installations of large-scale photographs hover between the disciplines of sculpture and photography. Exploring in phenomenological terms what a photograph is, her installations moreover ask – what is a photograph capable of? Discussing her repeated fascination with landscape and how a view is constructed in visual, political and philosophical terms, Crisp further explains in the interview her current Leverhume research fellowship working with fundamental science and the problematic of the visualisation of concepts and data that challenge the limits of our imaginative and cognitive capacities.

The film will be available to view on This Is Tomorrow website, to view the film click here.

Jennet Thomas, The Unspeakable Freedom Device, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, 13 May – 30 July 2016

A kind of warped Folk-tale, the film follows two women through a bizarre, broken landscape of collapsing signs and imploding meanings, on a pilgrimage to the Winter Gardens, to seek a cure for their green baby from the cult of Margaret Thatcher. In this fantastic, primitive-future world, the difference between technology and magic has become incomprehensible. The 37 film minute film will be embedded in a thematic installation.